Японский скоростной поезд "Комати": Обзор и характеристики

High speed shinkansen service in Japan

The Komachi (こまち) is a high speed shinkansen service between and in Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) since March 1997. It is the only shinkansen service that runs on the Akita Shinkansen, and uses E6 series trains. Between Tokyo Station and , it couples with Tōhoku Shinkansen E5 series Hayabusa and formerly E2 series for E3 series respectively. After Morioka, the Komachi service continues along standard gauge tracks that were converted from narrow gauge. Because it then runs on tracks that have grade crossings, its maximum speed from Morioka to Akita is , compared to on the Tohoku Shinkansen. The Komachi service was named after a famous poet from the area, Ono no Komachi, whose name (小町) is also synonymous with "belle" or "beauty" in Japanese.

Since 15 March 2014, most Komachi services have operated by seven car E6 series trainsets with running at a maximum speed of on the Tohoku Shinkansen coupled to E5 series Hayabusa trainsets. Car 11, the "Green" (first class) car, is at the Tokyo end. All seats are reserved and no smoking. The name Komachi was officially announced in July 1996. Services initially consisted of 13 return workings daily between Tokyo and Akita, and one return working between Sendai and Akita. Most trains ran coupled with 200 series Yamabiko trainsets between Tokyo and Morioka, but three return workings ran coupled with newly introduced E2 series sets, running at a maximum speed of between Utsunomiya and Morioka, and giving a fastest journey time of 3 hours 49 minutes between Tokyo and Akita (an average speed of 163.4 km/h). Initially, a fleet of four trains was used to operate four return services daily between Tokyo and Akita. The fastest journey time was reduced to 3 hours 45 minutes, 5 minutes faster than the fastest previous Komachi services.) was further raised to .